Generally, purifying a polymerizable organic compound (an organic compound which is easily polymerized) such as acrylic acid or methacrylic acid, for example, by distilling it by the use of a distiller in the presence of a polymerization inhibitor, so as to transform it into products, is widely practiced in industrial fields.
When a polymerizable organic compound is distilled by the use of a conventional distiller, the polymerizable organic compound is substantially retained, in a liquid form, on a surface of a distiller constituent member (for example, a tray supporting member) of the distiller. Therefore, the retained liquid, that is, the polymerizable organic compound, is polymerized by, for example, heat application. As a result, a polymer is formed.
Therefore, in the distiller, a strainer is provided at a predetermined position so that the polymer is removed from the polymerized organic compound taken out of the distiller. Besides, the operation of the distiller is suspended at regular intervals for dismantling and checking of the distiller, so that the polymer adhering to inner surfaces of the distiller is washed away.
However, since a great amount of the polymer of the polymerizable organic compound is produced in the conventional distiller, cleaning of the strainer and the distiller has to be frequently conducted. In short, such a conventional distiller has a drawback in that efficient purification of a polymerizable organic compound is impossible.
Therefore, there has risen a demand for a purifier and a purifying method with which polymerization of the polymerizable organic compounds is effectively avoided when the polymerizable organic compounds are purified by distillation or other processes so that efficient purification is performed.